Answer cross-posted here
from the guide discussion thread.
I could use a guide! I currently have Consumer Cellular - the rub is there is no service outside the US. I go to Canada to visit family - no service the minute you cross the border. I travel abroad to other places - again same problem. What would you recommend?
Roaming to other countries can be handled three ways: by primary carrier permitting international roaming, by local carrier in foreign country, or by VoIP over a borrowed internet connection.
Right now, the only domestic MVNOs that have international roaming are Ting's CDMA service, and international PAYGO SIM providers like Truphone - neither of these are particularly frugal options up in Canada. If you really want to roam into Canada with your phone without swapping SIM cards or using a free WiFi hotspot and a VoIP provider, you're gonna have to spend the shekels with one of the major mobile network operators like AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, etc... and it won't be cheap.
Otherwise, just swing into a 7-11 once you cross the border, pick up a
SpeakOut Wireless SIM card to swap out your Consumer Cellular SIM with, toss $35-50 onto the account, and use that every time you head North. Granted, you'll want to check
coverage maps, but it covers most of the population dense areas. Otherwise, see
what other prepaid option might work for your area. Credit lasts for a full year with SpeakOut, so you can just swap SIM cards as you travel and re-up as needed. Otherwise, you're stuck trying to use some VoIP solution which really doesn't address the need for international
mobile phone service.
I also need to upgrade to some kind of smart phone - company is now paying me an allowance and I need to be able to check email. Current phone is a Nokia C3 - not exactly a flip phone, but not exactly a smart phone.
thanks!
I applaud your taste in phones, my friend. I too own a Nokia C3 and have a handy trick up my sleeve for you regarding the NMS fiasco with Symbian S40/60 phones from last November leaving everyone without email access. So long as you don't need push mail support and manual checking is fine (not critically time-sensitive), you can probably keep rocking that C3 until it dies
thanks to mujMail.
If that doesn't work for you, there's no shortage of used, cheap GSM smartphones on the market at this point... especially on the Android end, but most of the phones sacrifice replaceable battery at this price point. Just aim for something that's can run Android 4.x or higher to keep reasonably current with security patches. Alternately, since recently discovering that BBOS10 doesn't actually require BIS support anymore, that really opens up the Blackberry Q5 and Q10 as some excellent options at the $100-150 price point these days for us QWERTY keyboard and long battery life snobs. They're also smartphones that haven't gone painfully dated to the point of loss of support and OS updates.
Any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. Hope that helps!